getbusiness: Focus on the positives for a prosperous new year

Graham Jones is an internet psychologist who runs a consultancy helping companies who need to make better use of their websites

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So it is 2014 and a New Year has dawned. What does it hold out for you and your business?

In spite of some promising economic news in 2013, the next 12 months does not look like it is going to be a bumper year.

For a start, new research just published has revealed that one in four small and medium sized businesses are being propped up with handouts from family and friends or by the owners dipping in to their personal savings.

Plus there is the news that savers did not want to hear – the expected rise in interest rates looks like it isn’t going to happen after all, because the pound has strengthened meaning there is no need to raise interest.

On top of that Barclays has pointed out it could be another 10 years before we start to trust banks again – meaning that businesses are not going to be looking to them for investment as much as they used to.

It all adds up to the potential for doom and gloom.

But that’s not the way to start a New Year is it?

Shouldn’t we all be filled with positive hopes, dreams and aspirations for the year ahead?

Indeed we should – but how do we do that when we get a good bit of economic news followed by another bad bit?

We do it in just the same way as we meet those New Year Resolutions to lose weight, for instance. We only succeed with them when we change our attitude to food. Focusing on “losing weight” instead of “gaining health” only leads to failure. Similarly, focusing on “economic woes” instead of a “new way of working” only keeps our businesses tied to the past.

What the varying economic news tells us is the fact that the world has changed. We simply need to change with it and our businesses will do really well in 2014.